Knoxville, Tennessee865-659-8279d.byerley@hiucare.com
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HIPAA

Notice of Privacy Practices

Hands In Unity LLC | Your Information. Your Rights. Our Responsibilities.

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

Effective date: October 19, 2026

Questions, requests or complaints about your privacy

Contact our Privacy Officer: Daniel Byerley, Co-founder and Executive Director

Phone: 865-659-8279 | TRS: 711 | Email: d.byerley@hiucare.com

Mail: Hands In Unity LLC, Attn: Privacy Officer, 900 E Hill Ave. Ste 430, Knoxville, TN 37915

Office hours: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. We do not have an after-hours line. If someone is in danger, call 911.

Who this notice covers

Hands In Unity LLC ("HIU," "we," "us") is a provider licensed by and contracted with the Tennessee Department of Disability and Aging (DDA). We provide Family Model Residential Support in East Tennessee through TennCare's 1915(c) waivers and Employment and Community First (ECF) CHOICES. This notice explains how we use and share health information about the people we support, and the rights each person has.

This notice applies to HIU's office staff and to the Family Model Providers (FMPs) who support people in their homes. FMPs are independent contractors, not HIU employees, and each FMP has signed a business associate agreement with HIU. They receive your health information so they can support you on HIU's behalf, and they must protect it and use and share it only as this notice describes.

If you have a legal guardian, conservator, or someone with a health care power of attorney, that person can use the rights in this notice for you (see "Choose someone to act for you").

Summary

Your rights

You have the right to:

  • Get a copy of your paper or electronic record
  • Ask us to correct your record
  • Ask us to contact you in a certain way (confidential communications)
  • Ask us to limit what we use or share
  • Get a list of those with whom we've shared your information
  • Get a paper copy of this notice
  • Choose someone to act for you
  • File a complaint if you believe your privacy rights have been violated

Your choices

You have some choices in the way we use and share information when we:

  • Tell family and friends about your situation
  • Share information in a disaster relief situation
  • Market our services or sell your information (we never do these without your written permission)
  • Contact you for fundraising

Our uses and disclosures

We may use and share your information as we:

  • Provide and coordinate your services
  • Run our organization
  • Bill for your services
  • Help with public health and safety issues, including reporting suspected abuse, neglect or exploitation
  • Comply with the law
  • Work with oversight agencies such as DDA and TennCare
  • Respond to lawsuits, legal actions and other government requests
  • Do research (only under strict rules)
  • Work with a medical examiner or funeral director, or respond to organ and tissue donation requests

Your rights

When it comes to your health information, you have certain rights. This section explains your rights and some of our responsibilities to help you. To use any of these rights, contact our Privacy Officer listed at the top of this notice. If you need help making a request, including help in another language or a disability accommodation, we will help you for free.

Get an electronic or paper copy of your record

  • You can ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your record and other health information we have about you. Ask us how to do this.
  • We will give you a copy or a summary of your health information, usually within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.

Ask us to correct your record

  • You can ask us to correct health information about you that you think is incorrect or incomplete. Ask us how to do this.
  • We may say "no" to your request, but we will tell you why in writing within 60 days.

Request confidential communications

  • You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, home or cell phone) or to send mail to a different address.
  • We will say "yes" to all reasonable requests.

Ask us to limit what we use or share

  • You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment, or our operations. We are not required to agree, and we may say "no" if it would affect your care. If we agree, we may still share the information if you need emergency treatment.
  • If you pay for a service in full out of pocket, you can ask us not to share that information with your health plan for payment or our operations. We will say "yes" unless a law requires us to share it.

Get a list of those with whom we've shared information

  • You can ask for a list (accounting) of the times we've shared your health information for six years before the date you ask, who we shared it with, and why.
  • The list will include all disclosures except those for treatment, payment, and health care operations, and certain other disclosures (such as any you asked us to make). We will provide one list a year for free but may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee if you ask for another within 12 months.

Get a copy of this privacy notice

  • You can ask for a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you agreed to get it electronically. We will give you a paper copy promptly.
  • This notice is also posted at hiucare.com/hipaa-notice and is available at our office.

Choose someone to act for you

  • If someone has legal authority to act for you, such as a conservator, guardian, or a person with your health care power of attorney, that person can use your rights and make choices about your health information.
  • We will check that the person has this authority before we act.

File a complaint if you feel your rights are violated

  • You can complain to us if you feel we have violated your rights. Contact our Privacy Officer, Daniel Byerley, Co-founder and Executive Director, at 865-659-8279 (TRS 711), d.byerley@hiucare.com, or by mail at 900 E Hill Ave. Ste 430, Knoxville, TN 37915. You can complain by phone, in writing, or in person, and you do not have to give your name.

  • You can also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR):

  • Online: HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Complaint Portal, https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/smartscreen/main.jsf

  • Phone: 1-800-368-1019 (toll-free) | TDD: 1-800-537-7697

  • Email (questions or help filing): OCRMail@hhs.gov

  • Mail: Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Room 509F, HHH Building, Washington, D.C. 20201

  • HHS also lists its toll-free line, 1-877-696-6775, and information at https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint/index.html.

  • Complaints to HHS generally must be filed within 180 days of when you knew or should have known about the problem. HHS can extend this for good cause.

  • We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint. Your services will not be reduced or stopped because you complained.

Your choices

For certain health information, you can tell us your choices about what we share. If you have a clear preference for how we share your information in the situations below, talk to us. Tell us what you want us to do, and we will follow your instructions.

In these cases, you have both the right and choice to tell us to:

  • Share information with your family, close friends, or others involved in your care or in paying for your care
  • Share information in a disaster relief situation

If you are not able to tell us your preference, for example if you are unconscious, we may share your information if we believe it is in your best interest. We may also share your information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.

In these cases we never share your information unless you give us written permission:

  • Marketing purposes
  • Sale of your information
  • Most sharing of psychotherapy notes (HIU does not usually create psychotherapy notes)
  • Using identifiable photographs of you, for example on our website or social media. Tennessee licensing rules require written, signed consent from you or your legal representative.

If we ever contact you for fundraising, you can tell us not to contact you again.

Our uses and disclosures

How do we typically use or share your health information?

Provide and coordinate your services (treatment)

We can use your health information and share it with others who are providing or coordinating your care and services.

Example: We share information about your support needs with your Family Model Provider, your Independent Support Coordinator or care coordinator, and your doctor so everyone can support you safely.

Run our organization (health care operations)

We can use and share your health information to run our organization, improve your services, train staff and FMPs, and contact you when needed.

Example: We review records from FMP homes to check that your person-centered plan is being followed and that services meet DDA and TennCare standards.

Bill for your services (payment)

We can use and share your health information to bill and get payment from TennCare, your managed care organization (health plan), DDA, or other payers.

Example: We give information about you to TennCare or your health plan so it will pay for the residential support you received.

How else can we use or share your health information?

We are allowed or required to share your information in other ways, usually in ways that contribute to the public good, such as public health and research. We have to meet many conditions in the law before we can share your information for these purposes.

Help with public health and safety issues

We can share health information about you for certain situations, such as:

  • Preventing disease
  • Helping with product recalls
  • Reporting adverse reactions to medications
  • Reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation. Tennessee law and DDA rules require us to report to agencies such as the DDA Abuse Hotline, Adult Protective Services, the Department of Children's Services, or law enforcement.
  • Preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone's health or safety

Work with health oversight agencies

We share health information with agencies that oversee our services, such as DDA, TennCare, your health plan, and federal Medicaid agencies, for audits, investigations, quality reviews, and monitoring authorized by law.

Do research

We can use or share your information for health research only when the law allows it, such as with your permission or with approval from a research review board.

Comply with the law

We will share information about you if state or federal laws require it, including with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services if it wants to see that we are complying with federal privacy law.

Respond to organ and tissue donation requests

We can share health information about you with organ procurement organizations.

Work with a medical examiner or funeral director

We can share health information with a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director when a person dies.

Address workers' compensation, law enforcement, and other government requests

We can use or share health information about you:

  • For workers' compensation claims
  • For law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official
  • With health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law
  • For special government functions such as military, national security, and presidential protective services

We can share health information about you in response to a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena. HIU does not keep substance use disorder treatment records covered by federal law (42 CFR Part 2). If we ever receive such records, we will not use or share them in a proceeding against you without your written consent, or a court order after notice and a chance to be heard that comes with a subpoena or other legal requirement.

Stricter state law

As a DDA-licensed provider, HIU must also follow Tennessee confidentiality laws and DDA licensing rules for the people we support. Where those laws give your information more protection than HIPAA, we follow the stricter rule.

Our responsibilities

  • We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
  • We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
  • We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.
  • We will not use or share your information other than as described in this notice unless you tell us we can in writing. Uses and disclosures that need your written permission include most uses of psychotherapy notes, marketing, and the sale of your information. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing if you change your mind; this will not undo sharing we already did with your permission.

For more information, see HHS's consumer page on notices of privacy practices: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/noticepp.html.

Changes to the terms of this notice

We can change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new notice will be available upon request, at our office, and on our website at hiucare.com/hipaa-notice. We will give a copy of any new notice to the people we support (or their representatives).

Getting this notice in another language or format

Language and disability help. If you speak a language other than English, free language help is available. Free large print, sign language interpreters and other aids are also available. Call 865-659-8279 (TRS: 711).

Free language help in other languages. Language-assistance taglines in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, French, Amharic, Gujarati, Laotian, German, Tagalog, Hindi, Russian, Japanese and Persian are on our Language assistance page. Call 865-659-8279 (TRS 711).

Contact: Daniel Byerley, Co-founder and Executive Director, Privacy Officer, 865-659-8279 (TRS 711), d.byerley@hiucare.com, 900 E Hill Ave. Ste 430, Knoxville, TN 37915.

Effective date of this notice: October 19, 2026

Hands In Unity LLC · 900 E Hill Ave. Ste 430, Knoxville, TN 37915 · 865-659-8279 (TRS 711) · Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time